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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Theological Instructions LESSON THIRY-THREE: THE IMMUNITY OF THE QUR’AN FROM ALTERATION Introduction As it has been indicated earlier, the necessity of prophethood requires that the Divine message must reach mankind without any alteration, in order that they can apply it in their lives to arrive upon the felicity of this world and the next. Therefore, the immunity of the Noble Qur’an like any other Divine Book is not established until its deliverance.

However we know that the other Divine Books, once delivered into the hands of the people were distorted and lost. We do not have any sign of the books which were given to the Prophet Noah (a) and to the Prophet Abraham (a), and on the other hand the books given to the Prophet Moses (a) and Prophet Jesus (a) have been distorted.

By focusing upon these issues one might question that the Book which is known to be the last Divine Book, is indeed the very same as that brought by the Prophet of Islam (s) many centuries ago. How can we be sure that it too has not been altered and is free from addition and deletion?

It is for certain, that those who have a little understanding of the history of Islam and Muslims will recognise the importance paid by the Prophet (a) and his successors to the writing and recording of the Qur’anic verses. They will also be aware of the importance paid by the Muslims to the preservation of the Qur’an as a whole; in one battle alone seventy of those martyred had memorized the entire Qur’an by heart.

Throughout history great significance has been given to the counting of verses and words of the Qur’an in an extended effort towards its preservation. However if we disregard the distinctive and credible historical indications of the Qur’anic preservation, one can also prove the immunity of the Qur’an through a combination of intellectual and traditional proofs.

The lack of addition to the Qur’an can be proven intellectually, and after recognising that the present Qur’an is from God the Supreme then the traditional proofs - through its verses - upon the lack of deletion could be established. From this standpoint one can investigate into the issue of the immunity of the Qur’an from alteration on two different levels.

Lack of addition in the Qur’an Lack of addition in the Qur’an is a matter of consensus amongst the Muslims, aswell as being an issue that all the knowledgeable and well-informed people of the world agree upon.